David and Goliath: The men of 'Race' (STUDS TERKEL - DAVID SCHWIMMER BARF ALERT)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | June 8, 2003 | HEDY WEISS THEATER CRITIC

[Fraulein]

Friends is one of the STUPIDEST shows on television. Almost too insulting to watch. The show isn't even funny. That's why they have to use all that 'taped audience laughter' as markers for what is supposed to be funny. Otherwise, you wouldn't have known that you were supposed to laugh. The characters are annoying. Flat, empty, and one-dimensional characters with terrible writing and no humour. David Schwimmer only wishes that one could ever learn something from watching that show. Funny, though, how is trying to make the show seem radical and culturally relevant. LOL! Even that stupid opening song gets on my nerves. Schwimmer cannot act, IMO, which is really saying something since his character, Ross, is nothing but a buffoon with a perpetual empty 'deer caught in the headlights' smirk on his face. I'm surprised the show is still on the air. Die, Friends, die!!!

[epow]

Is he recommending racial quotas for friendship? It just occurred to me, I don't currently have any Asian friends,

Not to worry, I'm currently starting up a rent-a-friend service. I plan to have at least two friends in stock from every major racial group, and a few from minor racial groups for those who want to go the extra mile. All at very competive prices too.

At present I don't have a suitable Asian friend in stock, but I can let you have a swarthy but well mannered Pacific Islander at 20% off the regular rate if you take him for a full month.

[Norse]

I have nothing against interracial marriages and am not worried about any problems that might arise from them simply because they are still rare.

What I was just saying is that there is an agenda supporting interracial marriages that wants to mix everyone together in order to destroy racism. It may not be such a bad idea, that is for you to decide. How do I know that this is on the table? Those who support it admit it. I've heard it plenty of times from their own mouths.

[eeman]

I read an article a couple years ago in Newsweek regarding inter-racial marriages. The article was basically agenda driven drivel, similar to what Norse was alluding to. Nevertheless, there was some interesting tidbits.

Asians and hispanics married with whites at roughy the same rate, if I recall, around 20 percent for each ethnic group. However, blacks very rarely rarely marry whites, or ony other group, except blacks. The article was bemoaning the fact that although the US would become a more homogenous "tan" country (as opposed to a "white" country) blacks would still be on the outside.

As for Asian inter-racial marriages of Asians with whites, this is highly variable depending on the size of the Asian community. In L.A., where the Asian community is huge, there is relatively little Asian inter-racial marriage because the community is huge. Other places where the community is smaller, hence slimmer pickings, they are more likely to marry outside their race.

So NP-INCOMPLETE, you can relax because there will still be a pure Asian ethnic group. Unfortunately, you will have to live in L.A. to find it.

[NP-INCOMPLETE]

This PC diversity agenda is basically leaving Asian men without women in this country. Your statistics are correct from the early and mid 1990s but nowadays, white male/asian female parings are closer to 40% of the entire female population. Given that asian families naturally have more boys then girls, what exactly do you expect us to do?

[NP-INCOMPLETE]

I'm not saying that hispanic or black women are unattractive, because alot of them are really hot but... lets face facts here. Asians on the whole are generally well educated and middle to upper-middle class, while the other minority groups are not, so its not very easy for asian guys to go for hispanic or black women. And of course white women do not prefer asian men, since they have less social status compared to white men. So what are we to do?

[NP-INCOMPLETE]

Oh dear, I certainly wouldn't want to taint the ethnic purity of your people with my untermensch white genes! < /sarcasm>

I'm not trying to push any kind of agenda here, I think inter-racial relationships are fine as long as its kept within normal bounds. You have to agree that the current relationship between the asian and white populations in this country is totally out of whack. I'm not concerned really about the racial aspect as much as the cultural aspect. When asians pair with whites, they lose alot of their cultural identity(strong work ethic, respect for authority and family, desire for education). Clearly this is not a good thing.

Get real. I'm a mix of several different European ethnic groups that were once more or less homogenous groups in this country. Being a mutt isn't that bad, unless you define yourself by the color of your skin or other meaningless characteristics.

I don't want to see the asians in this country become a group of "mutts" as you put it. Remember that asians are currently the best educated and the richest of all groups in this country. This is not due to race, but to culture. And if the good elements and cultural values become diluted due to inter-mixing with the whites, then all other performance aspects of asians in this country will decline as well.

[NP-INCOMPLETE]

So NP-INCOMPLETE, you can relax because there will still be a pure Asian ethnic group. Unfortunately, you will have to live in L.A. to find it.

Oh this is great! I can look foward to there being pure chinese/japanese/korean people only in ethic communities in the cities and everywhere else there will only be mixed asians and whites eh!

[Norse]

Well, NP-INCOMPLETE, I can see where your concern lies. But, the good thing about Asian/White pairings is that the offspring are extremely attractive. A half white/asian girl is usually absolutely amazing. I can't say that i'm attracted to plain Asian girls...just don't care for them.

I wouldn't say that asian culture is necessarily more hard working than white culture. It has more to do with the fact that white people in the U.S. are spoiled compared to asian immigrants and their children..i'm sure they will become spoiled one day as well

[Chi-townChief]

Well, I have to say that this thread certainly took an unexpected turn.

[eeman]

Why do you say that? < /sarcasm >. If you want to blame someone, blame NP-INCOMPLETE.

But getting back to your original thread topic, I listened to an audiocassette of Studs Terkel about a year ago of selected radio interviews from the mid 1950's through the 80's. I knew nothing about Studs before that, otherwise I would not have listened to the tape.

The guy sounds like NPR before there was NPR. The most interesting aspect was that he interviewed all of these people who he thought would "change" America for the better. I never heard of anyone of them, nor could I come up them on a google search. There were also some East coast intellectuals, who maybe had some notoriety in the late 50's-early 60's bashing the Eisenhower administration.

The one thing I realized is that liberal "intellectuals" all sound the same no matter what decade they are from--they all have that air of I'm smart and you're not

[Chi-townChief]

You got that straight - every time I hear Studs talking any where, I always feel like I should say, "Thank you, Mr. Know-It-All !" like Rocky says to Bullwinkle. And I'm still intrigued by Schwimmer's parents "sending" him to a "multiracial" school when I'm sure his local public school would have filled the bill unless they lived out in some exclusive (and not so liberal) area.

[JustPiper]

Bump!